Global beauty-market growth is slowing slightly to about
3.5 percent to 4 percent, L’Oreal’s financial communications
director Thierry Prevot said today on a call with reporters.
Still, the maker of Giorgio Armani fragrances and Maybelline
makeup expects to outperform the industry and remains confident
of another year of sales and profit growth, he said.

North American growth slowed from 6.3 percent in the first
quarter and 7.9 percent in the same period of last year.

A 0.8 percent decline in like-for-like revenue at the Body
Shop and the luxury division’s 5.5 percent revenue gain were the
worst quarterly performances since the last three months of
2010, said Andrew Wood, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

‘Slight Disappointment’

“We expect slight disappointment from the market,”
especially given the strength of L’Oreal stock this year, Wood
said in an e-mailed note. He rates L’Oreal shares underperform.

The stock declined 1.6 percent to 128.8 euros in Paris
trading today, paring this year’s gain to 23 percent and giving
the company a market value of 78 billion euros.

Total revenue for the quarter rose 4.2 percent to 5.81
billion euros ($7.6 billion), L’Oreal said. The average estimate
of 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was 5.77 billion euros.

“The trends of the group’s flagship brands are favorable
and more than ever before, our major product initiatives are
really making a difference,” L’Oreal Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer Jean-Paul Agon said in the statement.